Paul Wellman

Elizabeth and I connected through the Santa Barbara Independent, where I am the photo editor. Elizabeth’s mother was the editor-in-chief. She now lives and works on her family’s cattle ranch in Lompoc, California, just about an hour up the road.

Saying yes to this project was easy. Elizabeth is an amazing and hard-working person and the historic Rancho San Julian made for an epic backdrop. Watching Elizabeth work was fascinating. Often, we treat motherhood and work as contradictory—two forces that need to be reconciled. But for a cattle farmer, work is nurture. Her job involves caring for the animals, on top of the nurturing she’s already performing as a pregnant woman. I tried to capture that dichotomy in my photos.

The Rancho San Julian is a place with a phenomenal legacy, and history. And watching Elizabeth carry out the 175-year-old traditions of farm life was fascinating, knowing that the next generation was already on the way.

Paul is an American photographer based in Santa Barbara, CA.